1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to broadcast systems and, more specifically, the present invention relates to continuously scheduling and broadcasting a most opportunistic piece of content from among a plurality of pieces of content based on demand feedback data provided by various clients that are distributed across a broadcast area.
2. Background Information
Broadcast systems traditionally transmit data in one direction from a broadcasting source, such as an antenna, satellite or a computer server system to a plurality of broadcast consumers, who typically receive the broadcast data using television receivers, cable boxes, set-top boxes, or client computers. For the purposes used herein, the broadcasting source will be referred to as a “server system,” or “broadcast server” and the broadcast consumers (i.e., users) are referred to as “clients” who receive content via “client systems.” Users of the client systems typically consume the signals received from the server system as they are broadcast. For example, broadcast signals corresponding to a live event are received substantially in real time. The same is true for other types of broadcast content, such as pre-recorded television shows and movies. Unlike live events, the data corresponding to prerecorded shows and movies is stored somewhere in the broadcast system in advance.
Presently, a common content-delivery broadcasting method in which client end-users are provided with content involves server systems that broadcast the same data continuously and/or at staggered intervals. Thus, if a user desires to consume a particular piece of content, such as a movie or television show, the user “tunes in” to one of the repeated broadcasts of the content at the time the broadcast occurs. One example of this paradigm can be illustrated with present day “pay per view” movies that are available from cable or satellite television providers. For instance, cable television providers commonly broadcast the same movies repeatedly on multiple channels at staggered intervals. Users that wish to watch a particular movie simply tune in to one of the channels on which the desired movie is broadcast at the beginning of one of the times that the movie is broadcast. The continuous and repeated broadcasts of the same data or programs results in a very inefficient use of broadcast bandwidth. Bandwidth used to broadcast the same data repeatedly on multiple channels could otherwise be used to broadcast different data.
Another paradigm for providing content in a broadcast system involves a user recording a particular data file and later accessing the data file “on demand.” Continuing with the television broadcast illustration discussed above, an example of this paradigm is a user setting up his or her video cassette recorder (VCR) to record a desired television program. Later, when the user wishes to watch the television program “on demand,” the user simply plays the earlier recorded program from his or her VCR. Recently, more advanced digital video recorders have become available, which record the television broadcasts on internal hard drives instead of the video cassette tapes used by traditional VCRs. However, use of the digital video recorders is similar to traditional VCRs in that the users are required to explicitly set the criteria used (e.g. date, time) to determine which broadcasts are recorded on the internal hard drives.
Another limitation with present day broadcast systems is that it is difficult for most users of the client systems to provide feedback to broadcasters with regard to programming. For example, continuing with the television broadcast illustration discussed above, many of today's television broadcasters rely upon Neilson ratings to determine broadcast programming and/or scheduling. Neilson ratings are generally based upon only a small sampling of a cross-section of the public, and they typically measure only the share (estimated percentage of users watching a given television show vs. all television shows at the time a show is broadcast) and audience (estimated total number of people watching at least a portion of a given show. Consequently, most television viewers have relatively little or no impact on broadcast schedules and/or content.